September 2010

If you’ve been meaning to take up Windows Phone 7 development but didn’t know where or how to get started and you’re in the Ottawa area, this event is for you! Join Microsoft Developer Advisor Christian Beauclair and DreamDigital’sColin Melia as they present a hands-on lab this Saturday where they show you how to write apps for our new phone.

At this lab, you’ll:

Learn how to develop apps for Windows Phone 7 in Silverlight and XNA

Follow along at a workstation as Christian and Colin walk you through WP7 development

Get familiar with the software tools: Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone, Expression Blend and the WP7 emulator

Join us as we make ourselves available to you so you can try out a real live Windows Phone 7 device and see how your apps work on the real thing. We’ve got a couple of Coffee and Codes and one deployment clinic this week:

Wednesday, September 29 in Montreal (Coffee and Code)

Coffee and Code is all about us spending the day working out of a cafe so that you can find us, join us, talk, ask questions and get to know us better. These days, it’s also about Windows Phone 7, but we’re happy to talk and answer questions about anything. Please drop by, whether it’s for five minutes or five hours!

Join “les bons gars”, Developer Advisor Christian Beauclair and Regional DirectorGuy Barrette, who’ll be holding a Coffee and Code at Le Café de la Citéon 75 Queen. They put on a professional appearance, but we all know qu’ils vont ecrire des «fart apps»! They’ll be doing it in both official languages: Silverlight and XNA!

Thursday, September 30 in Montreal (Deployment Clinic)

Deployment clinics are a little more formal than Coffee and Codes. You can book an exclusive timeslot to deploy and test apps to a Windows Phone 7 device, and there’s one taking place all day at Microsoft’s Montreal office (2000 Avenue McGill College, 4th floor) on the 30th. Email Christian Beauclair to reserve a time slot.

Thursday, September 30 in Toronto (Coffee and Code)

I’ll be at the Starbucks at King and Yonge (4 King Street West) this Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a Windows Phone 7 for you to play with and deploy your apps to. I’ll be at or near the big table in the back — come on down!

If you’re thinking about exploring unfamiliar parts of the Microsoft platform and don’t know where to start, try using one of the Developer Guidance Maps. Like city maps, they give you an at-a-glance view of the “lay of the land” and make certain useful “landmarks” – different types of documentation, key topics on developing for a specific technology and notes on features you need to know about – easy to find.

Built by the people at Microsoft’s Connect Innovation Center, they’re using the Developer Guidance Maps as a way to model, prototype and test ways to find, organize and share guidance for developers in a meaningful way. I find them pretty useful, both for myself as well as places to point developers with questions.

The Developer Guidance Maps break down the platform into a number of subject hubs:

For today only (September 26, 2010): Manning is selling the ebook version of Azure in Action for a mere US$15, which converts to CAD$15.36 as of this writing. The ebook is a MEAP book – that’s Manning Early Access Program – which means that it’s an in-progress book. Purchasers of MEAP books get updates and the final version as part of the deal.

To get the deal on Azure in Action, use the discount code dotd0926 in the Promotional Code box when checking out.

DemoCamp is “show and tell” for the bright lights of the local tech and startup scene, where they get to talk about their current projects in front of a group of their peers. Although its format has undergone many changes through the years, the spirit remains the same:

An emphasis on demos rather than marketing pitches

A preference for showing working projects in action over slides

The idea that it’s important to build a sense of community among local techies and entrepreneurs

Special Guest: Not Just a VC, but “A VC”

There’s a big-name guest coming to this DemoCamp: New York City-based venture capitalist Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. You might have read his blog, A VC. (In light of the recent tech media kerfuffle called AngelGate, this should make for a very interesting Q&A session.)

Here are the details of DemoCamp 27:

The Date: Wednesday, October 6

The Time: 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Eastern

The Location: To be determined

The Price: $15

The idea behind DemoCamp has always been to make it as inexpensive as possible and to charge only enough money to be able to recoup costs such as paying for the venue. $15 is a steal.